Lots of thoughts on this little road trip to eastern TN.

First thought is that I have lots more patience for road trips than when I was working. Back then everything I did revolved around a packed Monday through Friday schedule, then an attempt top get everything else done in two weekend days. It made me an impatient person – anything that got in the way of accomplishing something quickly was not to be tolerated. Life’s a little more sane now. If a drive takes 5-6 hours, well, that’s mostly OK. My weekday schedule isn’t much different than my weekend schedule. Mostly open.

Buc-ee’s is a crazy little experience. A hundred gas pumps, same number of big pickup trucks and RVs. Some great food inside (their brisket sandwich is solid), but in general a weird circus dominated by MAGA types. Not being judgmental here (well, not much), just observing. Only in America could a place of such excess exist. It’s peak road trip culture. Glad I went, but unless I want a good brisket sandwich while driving in the Midwest, I’m not likely to go back.

Seeing my brother so ill brings up a lot of thoughts. It’s a shock on several levels. Most of the thoughts are about mortality, how ever-present it is for all of us and how we mostly ignore it until we can’t. Thinking seriously and deeply about mortality is….a lot. It’s easy to see how religion took hold in humans – we don’t want there to be an end to existence, so we make up a story about the afterlife. I’m not saying there *isn’t* an afterlife, but I am saying that no one knows. I’m a solid agnostic on this subject. No data, no evidence, so…no conclusions.

Driving across country I am always struck by how dumb it is to say that we’re “closed to immigrants because we’re out of room”. I’ve heard that on conservative discussions multiple times, and it’s BS. There’s so much open room in this country, it’s ridiculous. Now, with the foolish form of government and economic policies we have, there’s limit to how many people we can support, but that’s different. It’s not an acreage issue.

I got some good reading done on the drive, as one of the brothers drove most of the way. Now reading the new James SA Corey novel The Faith of Beasts. Second book in their new series (Captive’s War), and it’s as good as expected. It’s not The Expanse (nothing is), but it’s damn good.